The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1887-12-13
THE DOODLE BUG.
A Short Study in NaturaI
History.
THE PECULIAR SAND DISTURBER

1unne-Shaped hole i'll u sandy spot between
the roots of a great pine tree that stands at
the side of the sheep path leading from Mil
ford back street down to the picturesque Saw
Kill glen. The hole is well up under the high
| bank, and protected by the roots of the tree.
1t would not be noticed by the stranger un-
less he was naturalist looking about for Just
such sight. But its existence is well known
to the urchins of tho village, who long ago
ceased destroying it, it regularly APP
peared i'll its old place after a few days.
The temperance of this funnel in the sand
after being demolished was for years mys :
terry in the village. as no one had ever discov-
cred the cause OF its existence. Thirty years
ago the army of the Milford small boy was i'm
creased by the addition of member from an
Ohio town. This new member was in due
time taken to see the mysterious hole in the
sand under the old pine tree.
why" said he, chats doodle bugs hole.
| There lots of EN- III Ohio.
Then the new boy got on his hands and
knees, put his mouth close to the top of the
funnel, and told of his companions TO
watch the bottom of the hole. Then, in low,
| buZzing, humming tone he said:
| "D-o-o-o-dle, d-O-o-o-dle, d-o-o-o-dle."
By the time this had been repeated three
times, the sand in the bottom began to move,
and the two formidable looking horns and
the upper part of hairy head rose in sight
from beneath the sand Having brought
about this astounding revelation to his com
| panions, the boy stuck sharp stick deep in
the sand, and, prying it carefully, brought up
| fierce looking bug, so nearly the color of the
| sand in which it had its home that it would
not have been detected by any one not aware
| of its presence.
"That's doodle bug" said the boy from
| Ohio, as his companions looked on i'll OPEN
| mouthed establishment. "They are called
| doodle bugs, because when you sing doodle
over their hole they think it's fly or q bug of
some kind buzzng around, and they come up
| to be ready to catch it in case it falls in the
sand hole. But they like ants the best
And that old pine tree has been the doodle
| bug pine ever since, and the descendants of
| that queer bug are still living in the sand at
| its roots, and their like has never been found
! anywhere else in this region
IT is THE ANT LION.
| The doodle-bug of the Ohio boy of thirty
| years ago is the rare and curious insect known
| as the ant lion. 1t grows to be about FIVE
| eighths of an inch in length Its body is shap-
ed like a gigantic and very plump apple-seed.
| and is ringed and woollv 1t has two jaws
| that give it a very fierce look. They curve in
| ward like pincers. 1t can move forward, and
only very slowly backward. When out of its
lair it is the most helpless of creatures,
! and it would starvc to death but
for its cunning and skill. 1t is so savage
and formidable-looking that no insect it
| might eat will come near it, and it couldn't
move to capture one if hundred were within
an eighth of an inch of its horns. The ant
| lion would even starve to death if heaps on
| heaps of the latest ants or flies were killed
and piled where it could get at them, for it will
never feed on any prey it has not itself killed.
| And so the strong-jawed, Mountaineering
| bug looks out for itself by digging pit for his
| prey.
| To do this the ant lion selects SANDY place
| and goes to work. 1t uses first one of its fore
| legs as a shovel, eXcavating very rapidly and
| placing the dirt on its head By quick jerk
of the head the dirt is thrown several inches
| away from the pit. When one leg gets tired
| the other is brought into service shovel,
| and thus the work of making the funne-shaped
| hole goes on, q constant stream of sand being
kept flying i'll the air from the catapult head of
| that industrious worker. The circle of the
| hole at the top is always measured with geo.
| metrical precision, and the insect works round
and round it, digging ON all sides,
so that the excavation is sym
metrical. The top of the funnel is about
three inches across. and it is
| graduated so that at the depth of two inches
the bottom has come to point. frequently,
| as the work is being done, small stones are en-
| countered by the ant lion. Then the work of
| procedure is reversed. The insect digs and
| works about the obstacle with the extremity of
| its ringed and flexible body until the stone is
| loosened and worked upon the ant lions back.
The many rings and the hairy limbs can be
| SO dextrously manipulated that. the stone is
| balanced there while the in
| sect climbs backward to the
top of the hole with it, when
| by sudden jerk the stone is thrown out of
| the way If the stone leaves hole where it
was taken out, the insect fills up the cavity
| and smooth it down in keeping with the sym
| metry of the rest. If a stone too large for the
| insect to remove iS.encountered, the work is
| abandoned and the digging resumed in an
other place. In selecting its ground how
ever, the ant lion seems to have an instinct
| i've knowledge that such obstacles are not apt
to be met with in excavating.
The writer tested this instinct in the ant
| lion once. lie put the insect in q box which
had been filled with fine sand, but layer of
stones the size of chestnut had been placed
an snch or so below the surface. The ant
lion moved over every inch of the sand, APP
| parently prospecting. 1t made effort to
dig pit, and at last he went to one corner of
the box, where it remained. 1t was after
wards removed, and sand without stones
placed in the box. The insect was returned
to the box, and in less than fifteen minutes
was hard at work digging its lair.
HOW HE TAKES HIS PREY.
When the ant lion has finished his den it
buries itself in the bottom, all but the very
tips of its horns, in which there are very sensi-
tive eyes and eaTs--or rather auricular nerves.
The ant lion is well provided with seeing
powers. for it has six eyes. The moment it
hides itself in the bottom of the pit it is ready
for any stray ant that may tumble in. In this
respect also. the ant lion displays wonderful
instinct in building its trap, for whenever one
is made it is on the runway" Of ants
or other small insects. The old pine
at Milford where o family Of ant lions
have lived so long is fairly oyerrun, in
|
fly buzzing near the hole will put the ant lion
on the alert. An ant, fastening along on some
errand of its own, seldom turns out for any OBJ
stacle. Hence, if one comes to the edge of an
ant lions hole, it walks down one side with
! the intention of going up the other and proba-
bly, to do some exploring on the way. The ant
that walks to the bottom of one of these pits
disappears from sight the instant he reaches
that point. The ant lion has grabbed it with
its pincers pulled the ant in, and in a short
time will have its juice sucked dry. Then the
ant lion comes up out of his hidng-place with
the body of the ant in its jaws. He backs up
to the top Of his pit, jerks the carcass of his
prey far away, and returns to wait
Tor another. Sometimes an ant that
| has started down the side of the ant lions den
will change his mind before he reaches the
| bottom and turns to start back But he seldom
reaches the top. The ant lion always has one
or two Of hissix eyes out for just such OCCASIONS
and the retreating ant at once becomes the
target for shovels of sand that the ant lion
throws at him and ahead of him with wonder
full precision, using his horns for the purpose.
This bombardment invariably fetches the ant
back, either ON run or on a tumble. II an
ant lion lies at the bottom Of his pit for day
or two and bags no game, he makes up his
| mind that nc has made mistake in his hunt
| ing place, and he moves TO some other sDot